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The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. For over three generations, the Academy has connected millions of people to great poetry through programs such as National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world; Poets.org, the Academy’s popular website; American Poets, a biannual literary journal; and an annual series of poetry readings and special events. Since its founding, the Academy has awarded more money to poets than any other organization.

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Paul Farley was born in Liverpool, England, in 1965 and studied at the Chelsea School of Art. His first poetry collection, The Boy from the Chemist Is Here to See You (Picador, 1998), won the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection and a Somerset Maugham Award. He has authored four other poetry collections: The Dark Film (Picador, 2012), The Atlantic Tunnel: Selected Poems (Faber and Faber, 2010), Tramp in Flames (Picador, 2006), and The Ice Age (Picador, 2002), winner of the 2002 Whitbread Poetry Prize.

Farley is the recipient of the Geoffrey Dearmer Memorial Prize and the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among others. He currently teaches creative writing at Lancaster University and lives in North Lancashire, England.

Dependants

How good we are for each other, walking through
a land of silence and darkness. You
open doors for me, I answer the phone for you.
I play jungle loud. You read with the light on.
Beautiful. The curve of your cheekbone,
explosive vowels, exact use of cologne.
What are you thinking? I ask in a language of touch
unique to us. You tap my palm nothing much.
At stations we compete senses, see which
comes first—light in the tunnel, whiplash down the rail.
I kick your shins when we go out for meals.
You dab my lips. I finger yours like Braille.

Paul Farley

Paul Farley was born in Liverpool, England, in 1965 and studied at the Chelsea School of Art. His first poetry collection, The Boy from the Chemist Is Here to See You (Picador, 1998), won the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection and a Somerset Maugham Award. He has authored four other poetry collections: The Dark Film (Picador, 2012), The Atlantic Tunnel: Selected Poems (Faber and Faber, 2010), Tramp in Flames (Picador, 2006), and The Ice Age (Picador, 2002), winner of the 2002 Whitbread Poetry Prize.